Google Acquires Shopping Locker Service BufferBox

Google has acquired BufferBox, an e-commerce shopping locker start-up. BufferBox will continue to offer its service, which is currently free.

One notable aspect of the acquisition is that it is only the second time Google has purchased a Google Ventures portfolio company. The previous such deal was for Milk, Kevin Rose’s mobile start-up. Rose is now a partner at Google Ventures, and he was the one who led the investment into BufferBox.

But this isn’t just some Silicon Valley insider deal. BufferBox — which did complete the Mountain View, Calif.-based Y Combinator program — is actually based in Waterloo, Ont., where its 10-person team will be moving within the same building to Google’s local office.

Said a Google spokesperson, “We want to remove as much friction as possible from the shopping experience, while helping consumers save time and money, and we think the BufferBox team has a lot of great ideas around how to do that.”

BufferBox faces much competition in its efforts toward quicker and more convenient e-commerce deliveries, from the likes of Amazon, eBay, ShopRunner and the UPS-backed Shutl.

Just as the atom bomb was the weapon that was supposed to render war obsolete, the Internet seems like capitalism’s ultimate feat of self-destructive genius, an economic doomsday device rendering it impossible for anyone to ever make a profit off anything again. It’s especially hopeless for those whose work is easily digitized and accessed free of charge.

— Author Tim Kreider on not getting paid for one’s work

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